Absolutely Gutted...Mental Mistakes Sink Us

Morning all. It's still early in the day and it's already been terrible. This is of course compounded by what happened yesterday at the Emirates...which we shall discuss.

If you didn't get to see the match, in which feelings went from distress to glee to absolute disaster, then you missed one hell of a match, if you were a neutral supporter. I, however, am not a neutral so the match was absolute shite for me. We were up 4-2 with 2 minutes to go in the match and managed to let them score 2 goals in those two minutes to tie it up, which was as good as a win for them. Let's face it, Tottenham are not a good team, they were way behind us in possession, never really looked that threatening, and yet came into our home and came away with an undeserved draw.

Some people will say that I should maybe give Sp*rs some credit for their comeback, but let's face it, it wasn't their efforts that created this result, it was mental mistakes by Arsenal players that let them come back and snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat.

Manuel Almunia has been a fine keeper for the last year or so, but yesterday he went back to the Almunia that was from a few years back. He pretty much gifted them their first two goals. The first one he should have been able to get back and make the save on. The ball was so high in the air it seemed like it took an hour to come down yet he couldn't get back for it, and Lord knows what he was doing that far off of his line anyway.

Then we got back in it through Silvestre of all people and it seemed like order would be restored. This proved to be the case when we came out and scored early in the second half through William Gallas who seems to be able to attack set pieces much much better than he can defend them. We got another on a great play from Nasri and finished by Adebayor and you figured that 3-1 up at home was going to be a win.

We didn't want to make it easy on ourselves though so we let them get a goal on yet another gift from Almunia. Huddlestone shot from outside the box and Almunia just let it drop in front of him after making the save and Darren Bent knocked it in after just coming on. It was a save he really should have been able to hold on to and it made you a little nervous at 3-2. Robin van Persie made it 4-2 just a minute later though and it was comfortable again.

What happened next was absolutely shocking. Arsenal went into a period where we held almost all of the possession, just trying to run the clock down, and it was working. Heading into extra time with a 2 goal lead and they couldn't even get the ball. Then the unthinkable happened. Gael Clichy had the ball stopped and was looking around for where to pass next and came under some pressure from Jenas, the cunt. Next thing you know Clichy trips over the ball, Jenas steals it, dribbles 25 yards or so and knocks another past Almunia. So 4-3 at this point but still almost know time left...we'll be fine right? Not so. A header dropped to Luca Modric who had a shot come back off the post which we failed to clear or save and Lennon came in to snatch a draw. They celebrated like they had won the league and I wanted to kill myself.

It's not just the result that really makes this bad though. Of course I want to beat Sp*rs, who doesn't? But the point is the WAY that we drew the match. Mental errors and not being able to have the strong mentality to close out a game. Where is the leadership in the 89th minute when up 2 goals that says, "Let's close this game out and make sure we don't let them even have one chance of getting back in this." How do we let them score on 2 rebounded goals, and trip over the ball while trying to play keep away, and let David Bentley, the talentless cunt, score from 40 yards away when no other team has had trouble with them all year? I don't care if they got a new manager or not, it's the same players that have them bottom of the table and we made them look like title contenders with that comeback.

How much would a player like Gilberto Silva have helped in this situation? Imagine if he came on instead of Diaby or Eboue, would he allow them to make a comeback like that? He's the kind of intelligent, experienced player we need in these situations, and we let him go. I just can't see him coming into the match up 2 goals with 2 to go and not making sure everyone knew to keep their heads on straight and to hold onto the ball, and if they did get the ball from us I know he'd be fighting tooth and nail to get it back.

Everyone has a few bad games but Almunia was absolutely shocking this match. I thought Theo Walcott was fantastic but of course he came off to be replaced by Eboue who did nothing. I actually thought Gallas (who you know I am a critic of) had a very good game. He looked solid at the back and scored a great header. He is the captain though and some of the blame for a meltdown has to go to anyone in a leadership role. The team as a whole was at fault though. Silvestre could have closed down Jenas on the 3rd goal, Almunia and Clichy could certainly have had better games, but the fact is we completely blew it.

Arsene Wenger was as pissed as he's been in some time:

Well I am angry. I believe we produced an outstanding game and got the minimum result. We didn't keep the ball. We were there for the taking. We should have had a negative passing game but instead we exposed ourselves by trying to go five or six up. The team has outstanding potential. They learn from moments like that tonight.

It comes down to leadership and experience. You have to keep the ball away from them up by 2 with 2 minutes to go, and certainly after they pull 1 back. It should be common sense. My 8 year old team knows that.

I'm absolutely sick about it is the moral of the story. I don't want to think about the match anymore so I let all my feelings out on here. Feel free to do the same in an email or the comments and I'll read em on the podcast tomorrow. We've gotta recover from this loss and get ready for the next one, it's still a long season. Up the Gunners.

ArseNole Podcast Episode 5

Hey everyone. I've got another podcast out today. Yeah that's 2 in 7 days. I'm trying to get better about it. In this podcast, I talk about the Everton and Fenerbache matches. I also go over some of the newsworthy items from the AGM and talk about William Gallas' smoking habit. I preview the matches against West Ham and Sp*rs and read your emails. You can get your emails in for the next podcast by emailing ArseNole@arsenole.com. Thanks for listening.

You can listen to the podcast here or download the podcast here, or you can subscribe in iTunes by clicking here. Or you can even just listen to it right here in your browser by clicking play below.



Get your emails in for the next one, leave some feedback, all that good stuff. I'll try to get better each time. Cheers.

New Podcast Out Tomorrow, Get Your Emails In!

Hey all. Just wanted to remind everyone that there will be another podcast coming out tomorrow sometime in the afternoon/evening. I'll be going over the Everton and Fenerbache matches, the Arsenal General Meeting which took place today, Eduardo's return in 3 weeks, and I'll be reading everyone's emails. We've gotten some pretty good ones in so far but there's always room for me. If you have something you want to say, whether it's a joke, a comment, a rant, or anything, email it to ArseNole@arsenole.com and I'll read it on the podcast tomorrow. The best emailer will get a prize each episode so get them in. I'll get back to you all tomorrow. Peace.

The Best Football Boots I've Ever Tried - Nike Talaria IV

Hello all. Recently, I received an offer from the great folks at SoccerPro.com to try out some of their products, and I was of course more than happy to agree to that. For the last few days I have been able to try out the Nike Talaria IV FG, and they are the most fantastic football boots I've ever worn.

When I first tried them on, brand new, fresh out of the box, I just wanted to get a good feel for them and break them in a little bit, and the first thing I noticed about them was that the fit is a little tight on the arches of your feet. You don't notice this as much after the cleats have been broken in a little bit. This was really the only downside to them though. As for appearance, I think Nike has the best looking boots by far and these are no exception, with a great seamless design that looks very sleek. I really felt like Thierry Henry while I was wearing them, and this was even before I started playing with a ball.

So after I had walked around in them a bit I wanted to give them a good run to get them in a little more broken in, and when I started running, immediately I noticed that these are as light as a feather. I felt like I could run faster and more easily, and I really felt like I was gliding. I've never been so fast as I was when I tried these on, and they are extremely comfortable while running as well! The inside has cushions around your ankles to keep them from rubbing up against the sides of the boot while you run which really makes them much more comfortable than any previous cleats I've had.

Finally I took them for a run out in a scrimmage and I really don't think I've ever played better. The quality of the design allowed me to play better passes and have crisper shots. Not to mention the speed I gained from them allowed me to be more dangerous going forward and easier to track back on defense. I was so impressed with how they really did improve my game, something even my brother noticed as he struggled to defend me.

So if I was summing them up into just pros and cons, it would probably look like this:

Pros: Great looks, wonderful design, very light weight, improved control on the ball, increased speed

Cons: Tight fit around arches of feet, needs longer shoelaces as they seem to come undone if you don't have them wrapped up

So to reiterate, these are the most amazing football boots I've ever worn or tried and they really allowed me to raise my game to a new level. If you're looking to step up your game as well then I'd highly recommend you try out the Nike Talaria IV's or check out the rest of the selection of soccer shoes from SoccerPro.com, who have all the top brands like Nike, Adidas, Diadora, Kappa, and more. Cheers!

Toure Out Until November, Almunia Made Captain

Morning all. Just a few hours till match day 3 of the Champions League. Just a couple of things to run through this morning before the match.

First of all we do have some bad news regarding Kolo Toure, who will be out until November. He injured his shoulder against Everton and had to come off, and now he's going to miss at least two weeks. While this isn't anywhere close to our toughest 2 weeks of the season, you never want one of your starting defenders out of the squad, unless it's William Gallas. Speaking of which, I was hoping while Gallas was injured that Djourou and Silvestre would get more time to work with Toure so we could see just how bad Gallas is, but this totally blows that whole plan.

"I hurt my shoulder badly, it was very painful but it is a job of a defender to take pain."

"And we won the game after going behind in our own stadium, and the injury is not too bad as we think I should be fine in ten to 15 days and ready to make a challenge."

Yes, it is your job to take pain. And to kill people. People such as Dimitar Berbatov. Get well soon though Toure.

So our back four for the match today will be Eboue, Song, Silvestre, and Clichy. Not the ideal back four but it is servicable. Fenerbache has a lot of skilled players and they aren't as much of a "score from corner kicks over William Gallas" team, so I think we'll be ok. We're top of the group right now on 4 points so a win would take us to seven points with two home games still to go, which you would expect us to win. A draw wouldn't be awful, especially with the amount of injuries we have at the moment, but I'd like to see us go out that and take the game. I think it's certainly a winnable one.

The captain for tonight's game will be Manuel Almunia. Good for him too. I like Almunia and think he takes way too much stick for nothing. He's played well for us last year and so far this year and if he is the captain while Gallas is out I have no problem with it. In fact I'd rather him be captain than Gallas all the time. Actually I'd rather anyone else be the captain. But that's neither here nor there. Almunia says he'll feel "nothing but pride" while wearing the armband for Arsenal. Don't really know what else he would feel but there you go.

Luis Aragones, the little shit who called our beloved Henry a couple of awful things very similar to what I just called him except with more racism involved, says he's not worried about facing Arsenal. He's a terrible person and I hope we run them into the ground. The only thing better would be if Thierry Henry was here to do it. Don't get me wrong, I was cheering for Spain in the Euro's but it was in spite of Aragones, not because of him. I can't stand the man.

Andy Gray writes an article about how bad Sp*rs are and it pretty much says what everyone else says, that they're moronic for letting their two best strikers leave and not replacing them. I just can't resist laughing at the cunts though.

That's about all I have. We're getting some good emails in for the next podcast in so keep them coming, ArseNole@arsenole.com. Anything funny, informative, inventive, or anything else that would be interesting to read on the podcast this Friday, get it in to me. The best emailer will receive a $10 gift certificate for soccerpro.com, and maybe a little something else from me. Also I still want to hear more feedback as to what you think of the podcast, so those comments are appreciated too. Enjoy the Fenerbache match, and cheers!

Nasri Makes His Impact, Fenerbache Preview

Morning all. It appears Arsene Wenger is quite happy with Samir Nasri's start to his Arsenal career. While it sometimes takes time to settle in for foreign players in a new league, especially younger players, Nasri has caught on to the system quite quickly.

"I didn't count Nasri in here for the first six months of the season, like I do for everybody we buy at such a young age.

"When you look at the impact he had already here you can say he's ahead of what I planned for him."

Yes, Arsene I agree with you, he's a really, really good player. The scary thing is since he's come here he's been injured a good bit. It's a scary thought because of what has happened to the last player we've bought from another country and played on the left wing...When he has been fit though he's been great, and I've already ordered my Nasri home kit and am looking forward to it. We need him to have a big match for us if fit against Fenerbache.

The best news heading into the match against Fenerbache tomorrow is that Johan Djourou and Nicklas Bendtner have been declared fit after missing the last match against Everton. Djourou's return is especially key because Gallas and Toure will both be missing the match. So Djourou should slot right into the center of defense, probably along with Alex Song or Silvestre. My guess would be Silvestre.

Here's how the lineup will probably look:

Almunia
Eboue-Silvestre-Djourou-Clichy
Walcott-Diaby/Denilson-Cesc-Nasri
Rvp, Adebayor

I know Walcott is worn out and Arsene really wants to rest him but he can't really afford to at this point because we don't really have much cover there. If he knew Walcott would get tired during the season he should've invested in another winger during the transfer window. Plus, right now he's our biggest impact player and we need him in the squad. Big ups to Theo, keep it up lad.

Want to hear some funny stuff? Tottenham have played 8 games this season so far, and guess how many points they have...TWO! That's right, they lost again yesterday, this time to Stoke City, and they are still without a win. It's one of the worst teams I've ever seen in the Premiership, and even Derby had more points last year than Sp*rs have after 8 games. I really hope they get relegated, because I hate them so very, very much.

Some transfer rumors you say? Well it appears that we are scouting Standard's skipper Steven Defour. He's only 20 years old of course, because anything older than that is much too old for Arsene Wenger. He's a midfielder and has an 8 million pound value stuck on him. I've never seen him play before, and don't really know anything about him. I know he's about the average age of our squad and that's about it. Maybe he's a holding midfielder though, or could at least play there. He's a Belgian international already, so that can't hurt.

Some other weird transfer(ish) news comes from Julio Baptista who says he would have loved to stay at Arsenal. He says the only reason he didn't get to stay was because Real Madrid didn't want to buy Jose Antonio Reyes.

"I wasn't fed up and don't regret it at all. I learnt a lot of things from Wenger, one of the top-class coaches in Europe today, and I wanted to stay.”

He wasn't very good for us when he was here, but it does make me feel a bit more fond of him hearing these nice things. I give you props Julio.

Alright other than that I don't have much else. Get your emails in for me to read on the next podcast, just whatever shite you want, funny stuff, talk about Arsenal, make fun of Sp*rs, or just leave some feedback. Email me at ArseNole@arsenole.com and it'll be awesome. Best email gets a prize from SoccerPro.com. So get them in and enjoy the match tomorrow. Cheers all.

ArseNole Podcast Episode 4

Yeah I told you there was going to be a podcast today and there actually is so that is awesome. I think it's pretty good but that's why I need people to listen to it, so it isn't only my opinion. I go over a lot of stuff in a little time, including Gallas, the injuries, a review of our fixtures so far this year, internationals, preview the Everton match, the salary cap situation and a couple of other things.

Remember to submit your emails for the podcast with whatever you want, good jokes, funny emails, rants about Arsenal or Sp*rs or some other twats, whatever you want. The best email that I read on each podcast will win some sort of prize from SoccerPro.com. So email anything you think is good to ArseNole@arsenole.com, but if it's garbage and spam then I'm going to block you and eat your children.

But yeah, leave your comments about the podcast, or anything else you want. The more feedback I get the better the next ones will be. Cheers.


You can listen to the podcast here or download the podcast here, or you can subscribe in iTunes by clicking here. Or you can even just listen to it right here in your browser by clicking play below.

More Injuries On The Internationals, And Diaby is Back!

Is anything more frustrating then playing two shite games against Hull and Sunderland, then going into an international break and having a bunch of you starting eleven get injured? No, there isn't. No Gallas, no Sagna, and no Bendtner for the match tomorrow, not to mention that Cesc has a broken nose and Djourou has a concussion. What is it with internationals and players getting injured? When they play for Arsenal Gallas, Sagna and Bendtner don't get hurt. Go off for a week and a half or so and they all come back set to miss games. As if our squad isn't thin enough, we now have a probable back 4 of Eboue, Toure, Silvestre, and Clichy. Not the worst defense I've ever seen, I think my Under 7's defense is probably worse but it's not ideal. And who will be on the bench as a defender? Justin Hoyte and Phillippe Senderos? Oh damn, they aren't on the team anymore, so that means we'll get Havard Nordtveit and the concussed Djourou probably.

The good news is Abou Diaby is finally back in the squad. Do we even know what injury he had? It took him about as long to recover as Eduardo and I know who's injury was worse. Arsene Wenger said he may have to go straight into the team because of injuries, which will be interesting to see. I thought Diaby could be the answer next to Cesc, but I think now he's more of the answer of "Who can keep Tomas Rosicky company?"

Arseblogger says Tomas Rosicky is practicing yoga now to try to qwell his injuries. I tried to figure out how that would look like and in my head it looked like this:

It's kind of scary and I don't know how that's going to help his injury, but hey if that's his thing then more power to him.

Arsene Wenger says we can still challenge for the title:

"If you ask me how many games you think we can lose, I would say zero because I always start a season thinking you cannot lose a game, but we have lost two already and we are in a position where we have given ourselves a handicap," he said.

"However, I still think it is manageable to get back to the top and I want to lead this team knowing that there is not a lot of margin of error left - but I still think we can do that."

Yeah, we have given ourselves a handicap. Problem is it's against teams that we are supposed to be able to beat like Fulham and Hull. Not to mention dropping points at Sunderland. It won't cut it. Now we have injuries and we already have a thin squad. It's going to be a real test for us in the next month or so. Will the team be like Cesc and rise to the challenge and refust to lose, or will they kick and scream on the pitch like Captain William Gallas.

Craig Bellamy says he is keen to guide Aaron Ramsey. Now you might think "Oh shite, what's that cunt Craig Bellamy said about our player now?" In fact though, he says some good things. He says Aaron has the ability to "glide and show balance." Wouldn't that be nice if we were all special like Aaron and glide? I don't think we'd worry as much about gas prices if we could all glide around. Except maybe in the rain. No gliding in the rain to work. Bellamy goes on to say that Arsene Wenger is "the best manager in the world" for him and that if Aaron ever needs anything he just has to ask. Surprisingly nice words from Craig and it made me hate him a few points less, but only a few.

That's all the news for the day pretty much. The rest of it is all made up, unimportant, or irrelevant. I'm actually going to do a podcast today. I want to hear what you have to say about the start to the season, international breaks, or just anything you want to rant about. Email me or post it as a comment. Best comment we get for every podcast episode will win some sort of prize that I'm still working out but it will of course be awesome. Almost as good as "Changes" by Tupac. That's really f'ing good. So get your emails in to ArseNole{at}arsenole.com and keep them coming. I'll read it on the podcast and you'll be famous. Cheers all.

Why Arsenal Fans Should Hope For a Salary Cap

Morning all. After quite a busy week I am back. I haven't missed much though because Arsenal didn't have a game for the last week. So what's been going on you ask? No you probably didn't ask that at all because there are 75,235,298,235 other Arsenal sites out there for you to get your lack of news from. Due to the financial issues though, there has been quite a lot of talk lately about a salary cap in football, and a lot of debate on both sides. I for one think Arsenal fans should be supporting this, if not just because it will be better for football as a whole, but also because I think Arsenal would be one of the teams least affected by it.

First of all, I don't support any form of a salary cap that isn't worldwide or at least Europe-wide. If you have a cap only for England then players will just go to Spain or Italy or Uzbekistan or wherever they don't have a cap and can pay loads of money. So if that is the case then a salary cap is a restriction on where you can work and would hurt the business of English football. Not good. Our beloved Arsenal would go back to a team of all Englishmen, and I mean not even the best ones. It wouldn't be like Theo Walcott, it would be like Craig Alcock and Andre McCollin. Not many people have ever even heard of those guys. And that would be who was playing for Arsenal if there was only a cap in England. So forget about that point because it needs to be a worldwide cap.

So let's look at what would take place with a worldwide salary cap. We'll start with the big 4 of Liverpool, Chelsea, Man United and Arsenal. As of last season, before the re-working of some contracts, Arsenal had none of the top 50 earners in the world of football. Chelsea, on the other hand, had 8 of the top 50, and still have 7 since the departure of Shevchenko. Manchester United have 6 of the top 50, and Liverpool have 3 since the addition of Robbie Keane. So out of the big 4, Arsenal pay the least in total wages, and don't have any really exorbitant fees (with the exclusion of Fabregas who I believe makes quite a lot now, and rightly deserved). So if there was a salary cap, and I don't know exactly how it would work, set at 100 million quid per year, a lot of those players would have to take drastic pay cuts or need to move teams to get the team under the salary cap and wouldn't just go to the highest bidder. You want club loyalty back in football? If Arsenal can offer the same as any other club then why would they want to leave Arsenal, who play the best football in the Premiership?

The youth squad would also become more important because very high profile transfers would probably happen a lot less. Arsenal just happen to be developing a world-class youth squad that is just lying in wait. Players like Wilshere and others out of the academy are young, aren't paid too much yet and can already contribute, but they don't really get much of a chance because we're playing against the likes of Ronaldo, Deco, and Torres all the time. With a salary cap though all those players would be a big hit in salary for their teams, a home grown youth player like Wilshere would not.

One of the biggest benefits of a salary cap from a Premiership fan's point of view is that match day tickets could feasibly go down quite a lot in price. If you have a look at this chart from Sport-Magazine you can see the income of the big 4 for the 06-07 season.


Since this was published the Arsenal numbers have gone up for Match Day revenue and the revenue will go up again next season due to the Highbury Square Flats being sold and opened. So Arsenal already have the least in salary of these clubs, and are right up there near the lead as far as income is concerned. So if you take away some of the wage bill because of the salary cap, (you would hope) that Arsenal could afford to drop the ticket prices some. If you read this post, we were the richest club in all of Britain last season as far as total turnover.

So it is an interesting thing to think about, but with the financial outlook worsening it seems that this may become an issue. If you are an Arsenal fan I don't see why we would have any problem with it, because clubs like Arsenal who make a profit and run a good business model are not the reason it would be created. Clubs like Chelsea and Tottenham are the reason, and who wouldn't love to see them relegated?

One last little piece for you all, and if you don't watch American football you'll probably not enjoy this part but the NFL does have a salary cap, and the salary cap works. It promotes parity among the teams and keeps teams from going bankrupt. If you look at each team's salary you'll see a few notable things. The Chiefs have the most room under the cap and are terrible, but the Lions have the least room and are also terrible. So spending the most money doesn't mean you are always going to win. It shows the value of scouting talent and making shrewd business moves, which is exactly what Arsenal does. Let me know whether you agree or disagree. I'm sure there are many differing opinions on this subject, but it could become a critical decision for the football bodies to make in the upcoming years, so it's something that should be discussed. Cheers!

Give Me Goal-Line Technology!

We've just had a goal rules out because the referree called a ball out of bounds when it clearly wasn't. Theo beat his defender on the byline and last I checked the ball has to go completely over the line. It certainly didn't, and he turned and crossed and van Persie finished wonderfully. Where is the goal-line technology when you need it!? C'mon Arsenal!

Manuel Almunia Takes Too Much Shite

Good morning everyone. Not a whole lot going on today so a quick news round-up I think? Yes, sounds good.

Remember yesterday when I said Almunia takes too much crap and he's actually a good keeper? Well today he came out and spoke about being the Arsenal number 1 and says he's growing into the role.

"I'm very happy to wear this fantastic number for Arsenal and I'm pleased with how things are going; I'm feeling very well and we have not conceded too many goals, although we always need to improve.

"I think this season I am growing as a goalkeeper and hope I can grow more as the season progresses."

You've got to hand it to the man. He's always had a good attitude about everything in his time here, even when Lehmann was giving him stick for nothing all last season. I think he improves really with almost every game. Really though is there a better option for us? I think he is one of the top three goalkeepers in the Premiership right now at the very least. He made another great save against Porto and his reactions are excellent. Keep it up Manuel and I for one will be rooting hard for you!

Emmanuel Adebayor talked about his and Robin van Persie's partnership, and said he hopes it will lead to winning trophies. It's weird with those two. Sometimes, like yesterday, they look like they are the best of friends and play together wonderfully, but then other times they seem completely lost out there with eachother. But with more games comes better understanding so the longer RvP is healthy and they are able to play together, the better off we will be. Adebayor said exactly the same thing:

"If Robin is fit for the whole season we have a chance to do something special, that's for sure.

"We talk off the pitch about the way we play.

"You must discuss what you have done well and what you have done badly."

Their partnership really could be the key to our season. Remember last year Adebayor was scoring for fun but when he finally did go through a drought there was nobody to pick up the slack because RvP was injured. Now it seems like we have a lot more options. RvP is healthy (knock on wood), we have Vela and Bendtner that can go in, and Eduardo will be back by the second half of the season. So let's hope van Persie can keep up his fitness and keep this partnership going.


And to put a smile on everyone's face, Tottenham are still the only team in the league without a win. Yes, even West Brom and Stoke have wins before Sp*rs. Isn't it absolutely wonderful? Good job spending all that money you cunts. You're the worst "top 4 contenders" in history.

Hammering Porto, Just What The Doctor Ordered

Morning all. Happy times again. After being embarrassed by Hull we really needed a good performance and three points at home against Porto in the Champions League, and that is just what we got. A 4-0 and a great performance will lift everyone's spirits.

The changes Arsene Wenger said he was going to make didn't really materialize, and the only change ended up being Nasri in for Eboue. I was kindof hoping to see a more changed lineup I'll admit, but I certainly can't argue with the result this lineup produced.

Porto had us a couple of times early, and one I specifically remember was when they got us on the break and had a 5 on 3 and managed to hit the post. Luckily we were only bending and not breaking and managed to keep them out until we opened the scoring.

It was Robin van Persie who got on the scoresheet first, after some great work from Adebayor. Ade made a good run into the box with the ball that Cesc had played to him, made the keeper commit to coming out for him, then cut it back for the on-rushing van Persie who easily finished into the open net. A nice team goal from our strikers and they worked well together all night. It was good to see from them because I think there styles compliment eachother perfectly when they are both fit and on their games. 1-0 to the Arsenal.

Adebayor got one of his own next from a corner, taken of course by Robin van Persie. Adebayor rose up to meet it and headed into the ground and it bounced over the keeper's head and in. I think Adebayor does that almost better than anyone I've seen play the game. When he rises up to meet corners and free kicks it is like he can hang in the air for hours. Not to mention he is tall and gets higher than almost everyone. I really think we should use him more from set pieces because he is almost impossible to defend. 2-0 to the Arsenal was the score at the half.

The second half was all Arsenal. Porto definitely seemed to realize they weren't getting back into the match and Arsenal ran the ball up and down the field on them, creating chance after chance. Walcott had a good effort, RvP got another goal, Nasri had a chance and it really could have been about 6-0 at this point.

Some substitions were made, with Bendtner and Eboue coming on for RvP and Nasri. Bendtner won a penalty and Adebayor made it 4-0 to the Arsenal. Vela came on for Walcott after that and he really looked good I thought. Man he is an exciting player. Such quick feet and he's so skilled on the ball and with his runs that he will always be a thorn in any defenses side.

So I predicted 2-0 to Arsenal, but you have to double that to get the final, 4-0 to the Arsenal in a great performance.

Man of the Match: Emmanuel Adebayor - 2 goals and an assist make a pretty complete day for Ade. I thought he was brilliant and he really looks like he's getting back to the goals like last year now.

Needs Work: There isn't much you can say needed work in this particular game as I thought everyone played pretty well. So my needs work for this match will be the criticism of Manuel Almunia. I don't understand why this man takes so much shite. He's a bloody good keeper. People say he doesn't win us matches but I've seen him make several good saves this year and last that have either given us a win or at least kept us from losing. Keep it up Manuel!

So it's back to the league again but it's good to get a good performance and three points in. Cheers and up the Gunners!